An off beat look at Indonesian and South East Asian football from the terraces or the pub

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Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Doing The Samba Beat In Indonesia

Quite a remarkable weekend of action in Indonesia with 34 goals in the nine games that made up Match Day 6 of the Indonesia Soccer Championship. One club president took a swipe at match officials, one ref was taken to hospital after inhaling too much smoke from flares, one coach lost hins job and one team came from behind to win 5-4.

At the heart of the excitement were some of the Brazilians who now call Indonesia home and leading the way was Luiz Carlos Junior with a hat trick for Barito Putera as they led Persipura 3-1 at half time only to go down 5-4.

In his first time in South East Asia the 26 year old striker had started his career with the famous Botafogo but never made much of an impression. And despite two goals in his opening five games for his new side from the island of Kalimantan he wasn't pressing all the right buttons as far as the club were concerned.

'He has had several golden chances but failed to score,' said the club manager (a different type of manager compared to English managers). 'We must consider this. If necessary he can be replaced. After several games the forward line should be settled but he is falling short.'

The idea a player needs time to settle in isn't one that is considered by these type of people. Anyway Luiz Carlos Junior netted a hat trick and no doubt the Barito Putera manager will claim success in his 'plan' to go public and threaten his foreign striker.

Persib and their coach Dejan Antonic made the headlines after they were walloped 4-1 by Bhayangkara Surabaya United but the home support no doubt would have been gratified with the efforts of Thiago Furtuoso who netted a brace. In his second spell with the club, Thiago brings some much needed firepower to a BS United side that are relatively light weight up front.

If you want an idea of the wanderlust that affects some players check out the recent months for Gresik United striker Patrick da Silva. He first signed for DPMM in 2012 and since then has turned out for Krabi, Thanh Hoa, Persija and now Gresik United. Playing the highly fancied Sriwijaya the home side went behind in the first half to a goal from Hilton Moreira, another Brazilian, only for Patrick to net twice in the second half, hos first an overhead kick from close range, and earn an unlikely three points for his side.

With Rodrigo dos Dantos and Otavia Dutra also getting on the scoresheet over the weekend fully 10 of the 34 goals in the ISC came from Brazilians,